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MULTIPLE ARRESTS IN WEEKEND INCIDENTS

During the early morning hours of Sunday 01/30/2011, MLPD Officers Gladding and Torres noticed two suspicious persons in the area of the AA building off of Minaret Road. One subject was seen lying in the snow about 20 feet off of the roadway and appeared to be non responsive. The second subject ran to a nearby tree near the AA building and attempted to hide from the two officers at the scene.

While Gladding contacted the man down, Torres ordered the second subject to come out from behind the tree. The subject lying in the snow, Courtland Earickson, 18, of Orange, was found to be highly intoxicated and was subsequently arrested for public intoxication. The second subject, Travis Beigle, 18, also of Orange, refused to comply with commands and ran from Torres. Gladding secured Earickson and noticed Torres had caught and was fighting with Beigle.

Gladding ran up the hill approximately 100 feet away from the patrol vehicles to assist Torres. Upon arrival Gladding could see Torres struggling with the 6’02” 310 lb Beigle. Torres was able to get Beigle to the ground and both Gladding and Torres were on his back attempting to gain control. Beigle was able to stand up with both officers on his back and continued to actively resist both officers. Gladding pepper sprayed Beigle in the face, but Beigle continued to fight both officers who at this point began to tire. Gladding and Torres were over-powered and knew there were no officers to assist them. CHP was out of the area and Mono County deputies were no longer on duty. Officers began preparing to move to a higher level of force and place Beigle in a carotid restraint.

Sergeant Moscowitz, Officer Gorham and Officer Casabian, who were off duty and heard the radio traffic while driving home, came back on duty and arrived on scene. It took Gladding, Torres and Casabian to overcome Beigle and finally get him into handcuffs. One officer received minor injuries as a result of the altercation. Beigle was arrested and later transported to jail on charges of public intoxication and resisting.

While this incident was ongoing, a call about a stolen vehicle was dispatched. With CHP still unable to assist, MLPD officers had to get the two arrestees to the station before they could respond. While in route to the police station, officers received information that the suspect was cornered at the entrance to The Village by civilian security officers who were in need of MLPD assistance.

Because of the serious risk to public safety, Torres and Gorham stayed with the two arrestees at the police station, while Gladding, the only available uniformed on duty officer, responded with Moscowitz and Casabian, who were in plain clothes. Officers

arrived and performed a high risk take down of Leonard F. Hirsh III, 33, of Los Angeles who was taken into custody for vehicle theft and driving under the influence of alcohol. MLPD recovered the stolen vehicle which was returned to the owner.

Because of the high amount of activity throughout the night Officer Thompson was called out at 1:30 am and made two separate transports to Bridgeport with a total of six arrestees. Thompson then returned to work day shift.

Within the week, this was the third physical confrontation between officers and violent subjects, causing minor injuries to two officers, and the second in-progress vehicle theft.